Drug

by O'Rourke, Lynda

  I heaved. Hot vomit rushed up my throat. I swallowed it back down. It stung. With my hand clasped tight over my mouth, I fought to keep the contents of my stomach from exploding over the floor. I didn’t want to end up like Nurse Jones. I looked at Raven. She still had her eyes shut – hands clutched tightly together against her chest, like she was praying.

  “Clean her up, then go and find her son. Dispose of him. I don’t want any traces left forgotten,” said Doctor Middleton.

  I looked at the mirror. The cleaners were bent over Nurse Jones’ body. They tore off her arms. The wrenching and grinding of bones filled the room. They dismantled her like tent poles. I looked away. I didn’t want to see any more.

  “I’ve checked the bodies,” came Doctor Wright’s voice.

  I looked back at the mirror. She stood in the doorway still in scrubs – not one drop of blood down them, although the same couldn’t be said for her face. Blood was smeared around her chin and on her nose like she’d been punched and got a nosebleed.

  “Has everyone been accounted for?” asked Doctor Middleton, turning toward a small sink by the door. He turned the tap and washed his hands clean of blood.

  “There seems to be three missing,” she said. “They must be somewhere in this part of the building.”

  “Have you told the security guards outside? We don’t want them letting the volunteers escape,” he asked, drying his hands on a dirty old towel.

  “I’ve told them to not let anyone out unless they have their I.D. badge,” Doctor Wright answered. “They haven’t forgotten what happened on the last drug trial. Most of them are too scared to mess up.”

  “Do we have any idea what state the volunteers are in? Have they changed like the others?” asked Doctor Middleton.

  “I think if they had changed like the others then we would know about it – don’t you think? We’d hear them turning on each other. There would be trails of blood and body parts everywhere,” said Doctor Wright.

  Rubbing his hands together and a glimmer in his eyes, Doctor Middleton said, “Good, this could be it. This could be what we’ve been waiting for. We need to find them quickly and get them locked up. I don’t want them escaping into the country, never to be seen again.”

  Doctor Wright smiled. “Is that all?”

  “No. Has there been any sighting of my son yet? I’d like to know what he’s playing at,” asked Doctor Middleton. “He should have been helping on Ward 2, not doing a disappearing act.”

  “I asked Doctor Fletcher but he said he hadn’t seen him. As for the volunteers escaping, I think Doctor Fletcher needs talking to,” she said. “How did they get past him?”

  “You leave Fletcher to me, it’s not your place to question him!” snapped Doctor Middleton.

  She nodded her head and stepped out of the room. The cleaners had filled several black sacks with Nurse Jones’ body parts. As the sacks were lifted up, a steady stream of blood splattered onto the floor.

  I held my breath. Had they finished in here? I watched as the cleaners drifted from the room like mist swirling over the ground. Doctor Middleton hung back. A look of concern etched across his face. Was he thinking about Doctor Fletcher – wondering if he had helped us escape?

  He started to pace up and down, mumbling to himself. He stopped and bent down. When he stood up again his hand was covered in Nurse Jones’ blood. It dripped from his skin as he inspected his fingers. He jerked forward like someone had pushed him from behind. Standing on the spot, he swayed back and forth – a dumb expression on his face – eyes rolled back in their sockets – mouth hanging open. His arms dropped down by his sides. He stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity as if in some kind of a trance, and then all of a sudden his body jerked back into life. He choked and gagged like there was something stuck in his throat. Straightening himself up as if he was checking that his limbs were working, he walked out of the room.

  The door shut. The room fell silent.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jude came out of hiding first. He tiptoed to the door – ear pressed against it – listening. Max slipped out from under the bed avoiding the blood puddled on the floor.

  “Did you see what they did to Nurse Jones? They pulled her apart – bit by bit,” I whispered, crawling out from under the desk. “They’re freaking crazy, insane! What are they? They’re not human – they just appeared in the room without opening the door.”

  “Like ghosts you mean?” asked Raven.

  “I don’t know, but they’re not like us,” I said, chewing on my fingernail.

  “Ghosts can’t hurt you,” whispered Jude, “ghosts aren’t real.”

  “Yes they are, I can feel them,” hissed Raven. “This place is full of the dead.”

  “I thought Nurse Jones was one of them. I should have helped her – stopped them from taking her,” said Max, shaking his head.

  “You would’ve ended up dead as well,” said Jude, running his hands through his hair.

  “I wish I hadn’t listened to you. You said there was nothing to worry about. Drug trials were safe – I had nothing to fear,” hissed Raven, pointing a finger at Jude.

  “Hey, drug trials are safe. I’ve done them before. How was I to know that this place was nothing but a slaughterhouse run by fucked-up mad people?!” spat Jude.

  “Enough,” I snapped. “I wasn’t sure about doing this trial but at the end of the day it was me who decided to go through with it. Jude didn’t force me – no one did. It doesn’t matter now, Raven, we did it, and we can’t take it back. We’ve got to find a way out of this place – that’s what we should be doing, not blaming each other.”

  “Kassidy’s right,” whispered Max. “Now’s not the time to turn on each other. That might happen later when this shit flowing through our veins works its way around us, but for now, while we’re all sane, let’s just find a way out of here alive.”

  I looked down at my arm. The black lumpy fluid had travelled further up my vein and spread out looking like a tree branch.

  I walked over to the mirror. My blonde hair was now matted with blood – May’s blood. I shut my eyes, willing the image of her falling toward me – throat ripped open by Wendy, away. I shuddered.

  A hole in my gown reminded me of Howard’s snapping jaws as he bit through the fabric puncturing my flesh. My stomach felt sore. I needed to check it – clean it up, or it would get infected. I almost laughed. Infected. My whole body was probably infected by VA20 and I was worrying about a bite mark. I took a closer look at my face. Dried blood stained my skin. I was covered in it. It was like I’d had a bucket of red paint thrown over me and it had all run down over my body. My face was coated in May’s hideous death and it had dried into long, red streaks.

  Reaching behind I untied the top string of my gown and pulled the fabric down over my shoulders. A thin black line just under the skin had journeyed its way up the side of my neck. What would happen when the drug reached my heart? I didn’t know what to think anymore. My head hurt. I was tired. I looked like I had crawled out from a car crash. Why had I ignored the warnings inside my head – the anxiety I had felt standing in line waiting outside? Why hadn’t I just got a job? I hadn’t sold my body for sex but I’d sold it to Cruor Pharma. I looked away in shame. Why had I been so stupid? There really was no turning back. I’d made my bed and now I had to lie in it.

  The sound of running water stirred me from my thoughts. Raven was scrubbing her face – wiping away the smeared black makeup from under her eyes. She wasn’t as bloodied up as me but she held the same traumatic gaze in her eyes.

  “Does anyone know the time?” I asked, looking toward the small barred window. It was still dark. The night seemed to drift on endlessly. I wanted daylight. For some reason the thought of a new day made everything better – like waking from a nightmare. Only I knew deep down that this nightmarish ordeal was going to follow me everywhere I went. No daylight was gonna help me.

  “I don’t know the time,” said Jude, “but I re
ckon it must be the early hours of the morning. Maybe 3 a.m.?”

  “Another couple of hours and it will be light. If we can get out of here, we should head down Strangers Hill toward Holly Tree and go straight to the police,” said Max, pulling his hair back from off his face. His ponytail had long since fallen out and his shoulder length hair now hung in blonde-bloodied strands. He still held the passport in his hand.

  “The police won’t help us,” said Jude. “What do you think they’ll do when they see the state of us? Pat us on the head and say ‘there,there’?!”

  “Of course they will help us – they have to,” said Max, “it’s their job.”

  “They’ll lock us up and throw away the key,” snapped Jude, running his hands under the tap and splashing water across his face.

  “Why would they do that?” said Raven. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “Look at your veins,” said Jude, grabbing Raven’s arm. “You’ll end up in another place like this. Tested on, needles stuck in you, and if you turn into one of those creatures like Howard or Wendy, then you’ll never see the light of day again.”

  I looked down at the floor. Jude was right. We’d be nothing more than dangerous freaks – unsafe. Too risky to be let loose with the public. But what if they could find a cure? Surely someone out there could help us, a scientist or a doctor. But could I ever trust another doctor again? Would I really want to go back into a hospital after having spent such a fucked-up night in Cruor Pharma? Maybe I wouldn’t give a shit – maybe when I’d changed into one of those freaky zombie things, I’d be more than happy ripping large chunks of flesh from people. Nah – I couldn’t live like that. I had never hurt anyone before and I didn’t want to start now. There had to be something that could get this drug out of me. I couldn’t give up hope yet.

  “So what do you think we should do then if we get out of this place?” I asked. “Where will we go?”

  “We’ll hide out somewhere and then take it from there,” said Jude. “I have a place where we could go, but it’s in Wales. If we can get to my car we could use that to travel up there.”

  “Where’s your car?” asked Max.

  “I left it outside a bar in Holly Tree. I was too pissed to drive it home the other night,” smiled Jude. “It’s by The Fallen Star – you know it?”

  “I’ve been there,” I said. “It’s full of piss-heads. Buy one get one free on a Friday night. Me and my friend Hannah go there sometimes.”

  “Look, I’ll go down to Holly Tree with you, but I’m not going to Wales,” said Max. “I’m going to the police. This place needs shutting down and those doctors and cleaners need locking up.”

  “Max, those cleaners can’t be locked up. They evaporate through doors – I saw them,” I said. “They’re not human.”

  “I have to go, Kassidy – I need to find my brother,” Max said. “This is his.” He held up the passport.

  So Max wasn’t really here to save enough money to buy his own place. He had come looking for his brother. Why hadn’t he said anything before? Not to draw attention to himself perhaps. To slip past Doctor Middleton and the others so he could have a nose about? I could understand that.

  “Robert’s been missing since he came to this place about three months ago. I’ve been to the police but they said it was just a missing person’s enquiry and nothing more. The police said he would probably turn up at some point. I told them that he had gone to Cruor Pharma for a drug trial and all they said was that he’d probably gone off abroad to some place nice with the money. The police checked his bank account and the money from Cruor Pharma had been deposited into his account and taken out the day after his drug trial. They said that Cruor Pharma was a respectable company – did plenty for the local community and would never get mixed up in anything criminal. But I have his passport now and its proof that Robert hasn’t left the country. That’s why I came here, to look for him. When I saw the advertisement in the paper from Cruor Pharma, I knew I had to volunteer.”

  I looked at Robert’s passport photo. He was blonde like Max – a bit older. Looking at Max, I could see the pain in his eyes. He needed to know what had happened to his brother. He needed to find out if Robert was still alive. But after everything I had seen in this place, I didn’t think Max would have a happy ending. His brother was probably dead. I thought about the passport and iPod I had taken from Ward 1. It was under the desk still, where I’d hidden earlier. If I took them to the police with Max then maybe they’d listen more seriously to us.

  “I’ll come with you,” I said.

  “What? Are you two mad? Haven’t you listened to a word I’ve said?” snapped Jude. “They’ll lock you up and then come looking for me and Raven.”

  “We don’t have to tell them about either of you,” I said. “What about you, Raven? What do you want to do?”

  “Leave me alone,” she hissed. She fell to her knees clutching her stomach. Her eyes had gone a cloudy red. “It hurts,” she mumbled.

  “Shit, she’s changing.” Max backed away, grabbing my arm, pulling me back.

  Jude bent down next to Raven. He looked into her eyes. “She’s not changing, not like Howard or the others did. It’s different.” He looked up at Max and me.

  “Raven, do you think you can walk?” I asked. “If we can find a way out then maybe we can get you some help.”

  “She’ll slow us down,” said Jude, standing up.

  “Please don’t leave me here – please,” she whispered. “I don’t want to die.”

  “We’re not gonna leave you, you’re coming with us,” I said. “Max, help me get her up.”

  He hesitated.

  “When this shit starts happening to me, I don’t want to be left behind – I’m sure neither of you two want to be abandoned either,” I glared.

  “Kassidy’s right, we can’t just walk away and leave her,” said Jude. “Take my hand and I’ll pull you up, Raven.”

  She gripped his hand. Jude steadied her as she stumbled forward, her arm clutching her stomach. Raven’s greasy black hair hung over her face – red, hazy eyes peered out from beneath it. She looked sickly.

  “Okay, which way should we head?” I asked, splashing my face with water, trying to scrub the blood away. “There must be a staircase leading down to the ground floor somewhere.”

  “Let’s go left when we get out of this room and see where the corridor takes us,” said Jude. “And remember to stay quiet.”

  “We still need to find some clothes and I.D. if we’re gonna walk past the security guards,” whispered Max. “You heard what Doctor Wright said – we won’t ever get out of here without them.”

  I walked over to the desk. Bending down, I fumbled around, grabbing the passport and iPod. The thought of going back out into the corridor scared the shit out of me, but what other choice was there? Raven needed help and it probably wouldn’t be much longer before I needed help, too. If we could just get out of Cruor Pharma then maybe we could think more clearly. Maybe someone out there would help us.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  We followed Jude. None of us spoke. The only sound I could hear was the patter of rain against the windows along the corridor. The thunder and lightning had stopped. I was relieved to see no bloody handprints or footprints at this end of the corridor. Max seemed more at ease with Raven. He helped her along, asking every couple of minutes if she felt okay. I kept checking over my shoulder, making sure that no one was creeping up on us. I hated being at the back – I felt vulnerable, but then I didn’t want to be at the front either – not knowing what was around each corner. I didn’t know what to fear more – the cleaners, the zombie-things, or the doctors.

  “I’ve found the stairs,” whispered Jude, looking over his shoulder at us. “Let’s just look over the top and see if it’s clear to go down.”

  I gripped the wooden banister and slowly lent over. The stairwell was dark but I could just make out the bottom. The floor was covered in crap. Rubbish lay discarded – broken gl
ass, newspapers, and a hospital trolley turned on its side.

  “Looks safe to go down,” whispered Max. “But we’d better be careful not to knock any of that mess over or we’ll make too much noise.”

  “Let’s go then,” said Jude. “But watch your feet, there’s broken glass everywhere and we don’t have shoes on. He lifted his foot and wriggled his toes as if to prove the point.

  Taking hold of Raven’s arm, I helped her down – glad to be in the middle of our group and not at the back.

  “How are you feeling, Raven?” I asked. “Does your stomach still hurt?”

  “The pain has eased,” she whispered, “but look.” She held up her right hand. The fingernails had grown. They looked more like claws – sharp and slightly curled over at the top. Half of the nail was covered in black polish but the new growth was a cloudy grey. Black veins pulsed across the top of her hand and around her wrist.

  I looked down at my own fingernails. They still looked normal – half chewed, but normal.

  “Do you think we’ll get out of here?” asked Raven. “I just want to go home.”

  “I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I still feel like I’m in a bad dream – like it can’t be happening – like I’ve stepped out of reality and into hell.”

  Jude had stopped at the bottom of the stairs. There were two doors, each with a small, glass panel. One led into another corridor and the other – outside.

  Max tiptoed across the cluttered floor, avoiding the shards of broken glass. He grabbed the door handle, twisting it gently.

  Locked.

  “Can you see anyone outside?” I asked, stepping over the mess.

  “Stay away from the window,” whispered Jude. “If security are out there they’ll see you.”

  I stepped back, my foot catching on an old newspaper. I was about to kick it away when a picture on the front caught my eye. I crouched down and lifted up the yellowing paper. Trying to straighten the dog-eared pages, I noticed the date – 18th November 1974. My eyes widened as I looked at the picture. Doctor Middleton stood inside a shiny clean laboratory, microscope in front of him. A small article was written underneath.